Thymine hydroperoxides

An almost complete description of both OH radical-mediated and one-electron oxidation reactions of the thymine moiety (3) of DNA and related model compounds is now possible on the basis of detailed studies of the final oxidation products and their radical precursors. Relevant information on the structure and redox properties of transient pyrimidine radicals is available from pulse radiolysis measurements that in most cases have involved the use of the redox titration technique. It may be noted that most of the rate constants implicating the formation and the fate of the latter radicals have been also assessed. This has been completed by the isolation and characterization of the main thymine and thymidine hydroperoxides that arise from the fate of the pyrimidine radicals in aerated aqueous solutions. Information is also available on the formation of thymine hydroperoxides as the result of initial addition of radiation-induced reductive species including H" atom and solvated electron. 

Dihydrorhodamine, peroxynitrite determination, 740, 741 5,6-Dihydrothymine, thymine hydroperoxides, 927, 928, 930... 

Solid state O NMR spectroscopy, 185 Solutions, transition metal peroxide characterization, 1068-72 Solvated electron addition, thymine hydroperoxide formation, 926-7 Solvents... 

Tandem base modifications thymine hydroperoxides, 933 uracil hydroperoxides, 935, 936 Tantalum(V) complexes... 

Bao Y, Jemth P, Mannervik B, Williamson G. 1997. Reduction of thymine hydroperoxide by phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase and glu-atathione transferases. FEBS Lett. 410 210-12... 

DNA is also susceptible to free radical attack during oxidative stress. The participation of GST isoenzymes in the detoxification and repair of the potentially mutagenic radical damage to DNA has been studied by Ketterer and his colleagues. Both thymine hydroperoxides and DNA peroxidized by ionizing radiation in the presence of oxygen have been shown to serve as substrates for rat GST (T3, T4). However, these workers reported that the specificity of rat GST isoenzymes toward the peroxidized DNA differs from that toward the free thymine hydroperoxide, 5-hydroxymethyl uracil. From their data, Ketterer et al. (K7, K9) propose that GST act in concert with DNA glycosylase to repair oxidized DNA. 

Addition of a radical to the C6-position of thymine residues in DNA generates the C5-thymine radical 74 (Scheme 8.27). Reaction with molecular oxygen, followed by reduction, yields the hydroperoxide 75. Decomposition of the hydroperoxide ultimately yields the hydantoin nucleobase 78 via the ring-opened derivatives 76 and 77 ti,2 for the decomposition of 75 in aqueous solution is slow, with a 9 h for the tra i-isomer and 20 h for the c -isomer of the nucleoside)... 

Interestingly, one-electron oxidants partly mimic the effects of OH radicals in their oxidizing reactions with the thymine moiety of nucleosides and DNA. In fact, the main reaction of OH radicals with 1 is addition at C-5 that yields reducing radicals in about 60% yield [34, 38]. The yield of OH radical addition at C-6 is 35% for thymidine (1) whereas the yield of hydrogen abstraction on the methyl group that leads to the formation of 5-methyl-(2 -de-oxyuridylyl) radical (9) is a minor process (5%). Thus, the two major differences in terms of product analysis between the oxidation of dThd by one-electron oxidants and that by the OH radical are the distribution of thymidine 5-hydroxy-6-hydroperoxide diastereomers and the overall percentage of methyl oxidation products. 

Only limited information is available on nracil hydroperoxides that are likely to be generated in a similar way to thymine analognes by initial "OH radical addition in aerated aqueous solutions. This is likely due to the higher instabihty of these peroxides. Evidence has been recently provided for the implication of the 5-peroxy-5,6-dihydrouracil-6-yl radical in the formation of tandem base lesions. 

There are no available data on the formation of hydroperoxides derived from DNA within cells. This is likely explained, at least partly, by the fact that DNA is a poorer target than proteins for OH radical as observed upon exposure of mouse myeloma cells to ionizing radiation . However, indirect evidence for DNA peroxidation within cells may be inferred from the measurement of final degradation products that may derive from thymine and guanine hydroperoxidation as the result of oxidation reactions mediated by OH radical and O2, respectively (Sections n.A.2 and n.E.2). It may be pointed out that the measurement of oxidized bases and nucleosides within DNA has been the subject of intense research during the last decade and accurate methods are now available . This includes DNA extraction that involves the chaotropic Nal precipitation step and the use of desferrioxamine to chelate transition metals in order to prevent spurious oxidation of overwhelming nucleobases to occur . HPLC coupled to electrospray ionization... 

NMR spectroscopy, 694-5 vibrational spectra, 692 X-ray diffraction, 695-6 synthesis, 309-51 tertiary, 690-1 theoretical aspects, 67-84 thymine ozonolysis, 616 see also Chiral hydroperoxides DNA... 

---